Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Final Rejections
The applicant’s amendment of 06/26/2026 necessitated a new ground of rejection as follows below:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35
U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any
correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of
rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be
the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all
obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed
invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the
claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have
been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having
ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be
negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Otoguro et al. (US Pub. 2014/0267529) in view of Kato et al. (US Pub. 2007/0252890).
Otoguro et al. disclose in Figures 1-8 an image forming apparatus comprising:
Regarding claim 1, a scanning optical system (40) configured to perform scanning with a laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk) and to guide the laser beam to the image carrier (P) (Figure 1 and 3A-3C, paragraph 0034);
a casing (70, 85) configured to house the scanning optical system (40), and including a holding portion (31) holding an optical element (62) configuring the scanning optical system (40) (Figures 1-2B and 3A-3B); and
a pressing holding member (95) configured to press and hold the optical element (62) to the holding portion (31), wherein the pressing holding member (95) includes a body portion (95h), and a pressing portion (95b) coupled to the body portion (95h) and pressing the optical element (62) held by the holding portion (31), against the holding portion (31), the casing (70, 85) includes a housing portion having a bottom wall portion on which the scanning optical system (40) is disposed and a support portion (33) provided to face the holding portion (31) and protruding upward from an upper surface of the bottom wall portion to support the body portion (95h) and includes a support protrusion (Ca) protruding from a side surface to come into contact with a peripheral edge of the body portion (95h) (Figures 3A-4A-4C and 6A-6B).
However, Otoguro et al. do not disclose the support portion that is disposed on a peripheral edge of a through hole penetrating through the bottom wall portion, and the laser beam emitted to outside of the casing through the through hole is shone on the image carrier.
Nevertheless, Kato et al. teaches:
Regarding claim 1, a through hole (413L) penetrating through the bottom wall portion (432), and the laser beam (LIGHT) emitted to outside of the casing (430) through the through hole (413L) is shone on the image carrier (paper) (Figures 1 and 3, paragraphs 0049 and 0060).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Kato et al. in the Otoguro et al.’s image forming apparatus for the purpose of guiding the light beam to prescribed positions on the photosensitive drum.
Regarding claim 2, Otoguro et al. teach: wherein the optical element (62) is a reflection mirror reflecting the laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk), and the support protrusion (Ca) includes a front end positioned inside the through hole (J) in a cross-section orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the reflection mirror (62) (Figures 2A-2B and 4C).
Regarding claim 3, Otoguro et al. teach: wherein the support protrusion (33) extends in a direction approaching the holding portion (31), and the support protrusion (Ca) includes a front end bent in a direction approaching the through hole (J) (Figure 2B).
Regarding claim 4, Otoguro et al. teach: wherein the casing (85) further includes a clamping portion (96)
provided to face the support portion (33), and the body portion (95h) is clamped between the
support portion (33) and the clamping portion (96) (Figures 3B-4C).
Regarding claim 5, Otoguro et al. disclose: a scanning optical system (40) configured to perform scanning with a laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk) and to guide the laser beam to the image carrier (P) (Figure 1 and 3A-3C, paragraphs 0034);
a casing (70, 85) configured to house the scanning optical system (40), and including a holding
portion (31) holding an optical element (62) configuring the scanning optical system (40)
(Figures 1-2B and 3A-3B); and
a pressing holding member (95) configured to press and hold the optical element (62) to the
holding portion (31), wherein the pressing holding member (95) includes a body portion (95h),
and a pressing portion (95b) coupled to the body portion (95h) and pressing the optical element
(62) held by the holding portion (31), against the holding portion (31),
the casing (70, 85) includes
a housing portion (70, 85) having a bottom wall portion (85) on which the scanning optical system (40) is disposed, and a peripheral wall portion extending upward from an outer peripheral part of the bottom wall portion (85) and surrounding the scanning optical system (40) from a side, and a lid portion (70) having a top surface portion (85) covering an open upper surface of the housing portion (70, 85) (Figure 3), and a peripheral surface portion extending downward from an outer peripheral part of the top surface portion and covering a part of the peripheral wall portion from a side, the casing (70, 85) includes a support portion (33) provided to face the holding portion (31) and protruding from an inner side surface of the peripheral wall portion to support the body portion (95h) the support portion is disposed on a peripheral edge of a through hole penetrating through the peripheral wall portion, and includes a support protrusion protruding from an outer surface to come into contact with a peripheral edge of the body portion (Figures 3A-4A-4C and 6A-6B).
However, Otoguro et al. do not disclose the support portion that is disposed on a peripheral edge of a through hole penetrating through the bottom wall portion, and the laser beam emitted to outside of the casing through the through hole is shone on the image carrier.
Nevertheless, Kato et al. teaches:
Regarding claim 5, a through hole (413L) penetrating through the bottom wall portion (432), and the laser beam (LIGHT) emitted to outside of the casing (430) through the through hole (413L) is shone on the image carrier (510) (Figures 1 and 3, paragraphs 0049 and 0060).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Kato et al. in the Otoguro et al.’s image forming apparatus for the purpose of guiding the light beam to prescribed positions on the photosensitive drum.
Regarding claim 6, Otoguro et al. teach: wherein the optical element (62) is a reflection mirror reflecting the laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk), and the support protrusion (Ca) includes a front end positioned inside the through hole (J) in a cross-section orthogonal to an axis direction of a rotation axis of a polygon mirror (42) and a longitudinal direction of the reflection mirror (60) included in the scanning optical system (40) (Figures 2A-2B and 3A-3C, paragraph 0034).
Regarding claim 7, Otoguro et al. teach: wherein the support protrusion (33) extends in a direction approaching the holding portion (31), and the support protrusion (Ca) includes a front
end bent in a direction approaching the through hole (J) (Figure 2B).
Regarding claim 8, Otoguro et al. teach: an image forming apparatus (10) comprising: one or more image carriers (50Y, 50M, 50C, 50Bk) each including a photosensitive layer on a surface (Figure 1, paragraph 0035);
a charging device (12Y, 12M, 12C, 12Bk) configured to charge the image carriers (50Y, 50M,
50C, 50Bk) to a predetermined surface potential (Figure 1, paragraph 0035); and
the optical scanning device (40) configured to expose the surfaces of the image carriers (50Y,
50M, 50C, 50Bk) charged by the charging device (12Y, 12M, 12C, 12Bk) to form electrostatic
latent images having attenuated charges (Figure 1, paragraphs 0035 and 0038).
Response to Applicant’s Arguments
The applicant’s arguments with respect to the prior art rejection have been carefully considered and have been traversed in view of the new grounds of rejection over the Kato et al. reference.
CONCLUSION
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner Anh Vo whose telephone number is (571) 272-2262. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:30 A.M.to 6:00 P.M..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner'ssupervisor, Douglas Rodriguez can be reached on (571) 431-0716. The fax phonenumber for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH T VO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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